Have you seen a video that you’d like to discover the source of?
You can do a reverse video search by finding where a video was originally uploaded, by what name, and the source. A reverse video search can be a very helpful tool for conducting multimedia investigation.
In this post, we’ll discuss how to do a reverse video search in several popular search engines and tools to help you locate the original source of a video.
What is a Reverse Video Search?
A reverse video search is the process of using specialized tools and search engines to locate the source or origin of a video. The typical way of doing a search is to enter text, whereas a reverse video search begins with a pre-existing video file or a link to a video. Using these tools, a reverse video search uses complex algorithms to visually compare images, and assist you in locating valuable information associated with the video.
Why do a Reverse Video Search?
There are many valid reasons to do a reverse video search. One of the most common reasons is to determine whether a video has been misused or has been posted without authorization.
1. Finding Illegitimate Usage of Video Content
Due to the fact that people often share videos over multiple platforms, it is becoming increasingly common for video creators to have their work reused in ways they did not authorize. A reverse video search allows creators to identify all possible instances of unauthorized reuse of their video content and pursue legal recourse against violators.
2. Find Similar Content
Another good reason to perform a reverse video search is to locate other videos that relate to a specific video you’ve found. This is particularly useful to researchers, journalists and others who wish to learn more about a particular topic. Performing a reverse video search can provide you with a much better understanding of a subject matter as well as provide you with other resources and insights to further develop your research.
3. Locate Complete Videos
At times, you may come across a portion of a video that interests you, however you’re unable to locate the complete version. A reverse video search can be a useful way to locate the complete version of the video and thereby gain a deeper insight into the content.
How to Conduct a Reverse Video Search
We now understand why a reverse video search is so important. Now let’s look at how to do a reverse video search on the most commonly used search engines.
On Google
Find the Video on Google Images:
Visit Google Images (images.google.com) and click on the camera icon in the search box.
Either upload the video or copy/paste the video url.
Google will then display links to all of the sources that contain the video.
Search YouTube Directly:
If the video is located on YouTube, you can perform a reverse video search on the YouTube platform itself.
Copy the video id or video url and paste it into the YouTube search bar.
The original video will appear, along with all other videos that are related to the video you searched for.
On Bing
Search Bing Video:
Visit Bing Video (www.bing.com/videos).
Input the terms related to the video into the search bar or copy/paste the video url.
Bing will then show you all of the videos that are related to the video you were searching for.
On DuckDuckGo
Take a Screenshot of the Video Frame:
Stop the video at a point that you would like to search for.
Take a picture of the video frame.
Go to DuckDuckGo Images:
Enter duckduckgo.com in your web browser.
Click the “Images” tab located in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Upload Your Screenshot:
Click the camera icon in the search bar.
Choose the “Upload Image” option.
Select the screenshot that you previously took.
Reverse Video Search Tools
While search engines are great tools, there are a number of tools specifically designed to enable you to do a reverse video search. Here are three of the most useful tools you can utilize:
TinEye
Visit TinEye’s Site:
Visit TinEye’s site at www.tineye.com.
Upload the video or type in the video url.
TinEye will produce a list of websites that include the video.
Berify
Visit Berify’s Platform:
Visit Berify’s site at berify.com.
Upload the video or type in the video url.
Berify will provide you with a report containing information about the video and how it has been utilized.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock’s Reverse Video Search:
Visit Shutterstock at www.shutterstock.com.
Upload the video or type in the video url.
Shutterstock will provide you with information regarding the video including its origin and usage.
Technological Advances in Reverse Video Search
Reverse Video Search using AI is changing how consumers and viewers identify and discover videos online. Computer Vision/Machine Learning algorithms analyze every single frame in a video, recognizing faces, locations, objects and comparing them to millions of video’s available on Social Media Platforms/Streaming Platforms.
Instead of traditional keyword/text based search, reverse video search uses a pattern recognition method to locate similar visuals, regardless of whether title/tags exist. Today, many reverse video search applications now integrate the capability to perform video search with Voice Search/URL Browsing capabilities, providing users the ability to instantly discover video content by uploading a clip/link.
Reverse video search is evolving as the technologies improve and they begin to use historical search data to provide more personalized and improved results, resulting in the fastest, smartest and most accurate results possible.
Detecting Deepfakes and AI-Generated Videos
Deep fakes are now being detected with Reverse Video Search, which is now becoming an important tool used to detect Deep Fakes and AI generated videos.
With reverse video search you combine a frame by frame video detector (AI) with a deep search mode; allowing you to perform a detailed analysis of every single frame in a video to identify the differences in motion sequences, keyframes and visual patterns that usually indicate whether a video is created from synthetic media.
A good deep fake verifier will also verify the metadata and trace the source of the video through all of its contents to determine if it originated from one location or another. This process of video origin tracing provides a way to determine whether video content was created from real footage or manipulated or created entirely from artificial intelligence.
Limitations and Challenges of Reverse Video Search
Reverse video search has made significant progress; however, there remain several challenges that limit the ability of a reverse video search engine from achieving an accurate and reliable search of a video.
The most serious limitation is the quality of the original source image; poor lighting, low resolution, and blurry images will all hinder the ability of a video search engine to accurately find corresponding video frames.
Most reverse video search engines use frame by frame analysis to create their index of images (frames) as such even slight distortions of an image can result in incomplete searches. Additionally, the quality of the search engine’s database also limits its performance.
A complete index of all online video content does not exist, therefore the search engine will always be limited by the extent of its database and the unevenness of website coverage. Not all reverse video search engines will produce the same results depending on the method used to perform the search.
Lastly, reverse video search engines do not always perform well when searching dynamic or partial clips. Overall, these challenges suggest that reverse video search is a powerful tool, but its accuracy ultimately depends on the quality of the data being searched and the breadth of platforms that have indexed the content of those videos.
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